[BC ABI] gcj-abi-2-dev-branch created

Fri Apr 16 21:00:00 GMT 2004

Bryce McKinlay wrote:
> Currently, the idea is that we'll maintain two ABIs - the "new", aka 
> BC-ABI for dynamic shared library environments, and the existing ABI for 
> static binaries. Aside from additional dispatch indirections and such, 
> the main difference technically will be that under the BC-ABI, class 
> descriptor structures, vtables, and the like are contructed at runtime 
> from pointer-free metadata, while under the old ABI these are 
> pre-generated at compile time.

If the plan is to for the foreseeable future to support two ABI's
in the same source tree, do we really need a separate branch?
What time horizon are you thinking about in terms of when to
merge the branch back?
In any case, is there a design document? If not, we need one now.
For example, if I'm going to work on reducing executable size
I need to need some general idea of where you're going so I don't
conflict or duplicate work. Especially if you're working in a
separate branch.
-- 
	--Per Bothner
per@bothner.com http://per.bothner.com/